Chapter 296 - 275: Bloody Sport Commission

The Vortex Gang has work to do, and so does Lille.

This kind of work is very risky, and even if the goods are nabbed, the follow-up issues are a real hassle. Only organized gangs in Night City would attack company convoys on a large scale because they have multiple channels.

Secondly, they already have enough trouble on their heads and don’t care about these matters.

In Mercedes’ eyes, Lille could just wave his hand and find Wanderers to help, but Lille didn’t want to drag the Wanderers into it—

The cost was too high, unnecessary.

He now had two opportunities at hand, one was a commission from Perares to lower the crime rate in the Watson District by getting rid of some reward-bearing members of the Vortex Gang.

The other was intelligence from Mercedes, the former lacking information with not much to go on, but the latter had plenty of intel and possible approaches.

So the best choice was to use Mercedes’ precise intel to take out as many of the Vortex Gang as possible.

Regarding the Vortex Gang, Lille dimly remembered some information: in 2077, the gang’s leader was a pervert called Royce, who abducted the former leader Brick and used bloody means to cleanse the disobedient gang members.

The leader of the Vortex Gang should still be Brick now, and in the original story, the moment when Royce usurped Brick’s position was just before and after Little Flat Head was involved.

If Lille could hasten this process and pit them against each other, many in the Vortex Gang would die.

Anyway, gang warfare, as long as it didn’t kill innocent civilians or cause corporate losses, was not accounted for in violent crime statistics. On the contrary, the deaths of these criminals with records could actually decrease the crime rate...

Thus, Lille started to inquire about details with Mercedes.

"What do you want the movers to do?"

"Actually, it’s pretty simple. The goods will pass through customs, then be marked with LOA’s signature, get ’lost’ along the way, you know.

Customs see LOA and know better than to ask questions they shouldn’t, and company reps seeing LOA will talk less than usual...

But gang guys like to leave little handles behind. If they get stopped by the escort while taking the goods, it’s bound to blow their cover."

"And if they don’t get stopped?"

"Then the person responsible for this batch of goods is going to be in hot water, but it won’t be me."

Lille copied the contents of the chip and put it back, saying:

"I have a plan, you go find the Vortex Gang for the job."

"Do you take me for a three-year-old? What’s the content of the plan? If you don’t make it clear, how would I know whether you’re lying to me or not."

"I wouldn’t lie to you," Lille shrugged. "Like you said, switching up the person in charge is no good for me either. Basically, we’re in the same boat."

Mercedes stared at Lille, silently smoking.

After a few seconds of silence, V raised his eyebrows, "What are you looking at? I guess you don’t have a choice. Instead of staring, you might as well hurry up and find some hitters."

Mercedes rolled her eyes at V, having just finished a whole cigarette, and tossed it on the ground.

"Don’t disappoint me, Burger King."

Lille waved it off: "Rest assured, when have I ever let you down? Wait for the surprise.

And remember, only through enduring hardship can one become a superior person. If you do suffer a bit, don’t go soft and drop out."

"Surprise..."

Combining Lille’s final piece of advice, Mercedes thought: as long as it’s not a shock.

"...playing mysterious."

Mercedes gathered her things and left the stall.

After seeing off the outsider, Jack asked curiously, "So who are we going to tackle?"

"Definitely the Vortex Gang," Lille said, grabbing the unfinished Rainbow Scorpion-tailed Lion drink. "I hear the Vortex Gang’s got quite a few good items on hand."

"That’s what I like to hear. I despise those augmentation freaks. Back in my gang days, I heard they would kill kids on the streets for fun.

I even had a brother they captured for illegal prosthetic implantation, and when we found him, you couldn’t even recognize the kid as your own..."

V nodded in agreement.

Of the gangs they’d dealt with so far, the Six Street Gang was the stupidest, shouting about loving the United States and, relying on their status as barely city dwellers, acting as middlemen between the Wanderers and the city folk, always trying to move closer to the city.

The Tiger Claw Gang is the most profitable, with deep ties to Arasaka and the City government of Night City; they dabble in gambling, drugs, whatever makes money.

The Scavengers have the widest reach, omnipresent like cockroaches. They’re not so much a gang as they are a collective term for kidney snippers, given their handling of second-hand organs and prosthetic sales.

The Valentinos are the gang that V and Jack are most familiar with. They have their own set of laws, and they believe in God and the Virgin Mary. Because of this, although they’re also up for anything, they’re considered to have some lines they won’t cross and hold honor in high regard.

By comparison, the Chaotic Blade Association is the most brutal, a sadistic gang that kills for fun, acting recklessly. Yet their actions are confined to Evil Land; they don’t have much good stuff—just pure ruthlessness.

But the Vortex Gang is different. Not only are they ruthless, but they also have top-notch equipment and even their own technology.

A tactical prosthetic eye covering half the face is standard issue, and oozing blood from lifted skin panels is a common occurrence. Their exaggerated level of cyber modifications means that most of them can’t think straight without the outrageous use of neural stimulants.

One could say that the Vortex Gang embodies the closest thing to cyberpsychosis, with a creed based on endless prosthetic augmentation, which drives them insane.

Back in the early 21st century, during the gang wars, factions would openly conflict with corporations within the city, nearly turning into urban warfare.

In these conflicts, the Vortex Gang was always at the forefront.

If you trace back their history, they were even involved in the establishment of Night City—before the founder Knight bought the land of Coronado at a low price, the land that is now known as Night City, the Vortex Gang already existed.

The massacre they orchestrated in the fishing village on this territory shocked the world.

This, in turn, caused the land prices to plummet, and Knight took advantage of this opportunity to purchase the land of Night City and began to realize his dream.

Unfortunately, his bold endeavor was accompanied by violence from the start. After Knight’s death, Night City gradually became what it is today, with the Vortex Gang continuing as always.

Decades later, they still act with impunity, occupying a large swath of land in the northern industrial zone of Watson, where they hide their loot stolen from corporations, along with their cutting-edge, ever-evolving technology...

This is the target that Lille has tasked them with this time.

So, even though the reward offered by Jefferson sounds quite attractive, it’s extremely difficult to execute.

Essentially, their goal is to kill; to kill the Vortex Gang.

Who knows what kind of outlandish trump cards these lunatics have?

Lille nodded in agreement with V and Jack’s sentiment, "The Vortex Gang is dangerous, but think about it, which of the gangs we deal with now aren’t submissive to us?"

The Valentinos — if Jack decided to join a gang after the bust-up with the Six Street Gang, he’d probably become a top dog, the high-ranking kind, the next day.

The Six Street Gang got their heads pushed down and submitted.

The Tiger Claw Gang got their heads pushed down and submitted.

The Night Wandering Ghosts, with the growth of the Wanderers, had their headquarters taken down and now hardly dare to show their faces in Evil Land.

Moreover, in these operations, the little boss of the Scavengers, Zaixian, got dragged out, and the Mox Gang, made up of various sex dolls and lower-class people, idolizes the trio—

If the three of them went to the Lizi Club for fun, they probably wouldn’t be able to get out of bed the next day.

These gangs, upon hearing the name of Burger King, the simpleton dealing in big shots, have to respectfully call him "Big Brother."

"...Now it’s the Vortex Gang’s turn."

Jack and V suddenly became invigorated—

Yeah, now it’s the Vortex Gang’s turn!

Before teaming up with Lille, they still had to worry about money, and their dreams were gradually fading into just making enough to get by...

But now, they’re truly on the path to their dreams:

To become big shots! To become the toughest big shots in Night City!

After all they had done, wasn’t this the goal?

"Heh heh," Jack hugged Lille, "Hermano, you really have a way with words, a few sentences and you’ve got us all fired up..."

V leaned on the bar with one hand, turned sideways to look at Lille, and couldn’t help but laugh, "You know, you really do have a way with words!

The next job is to wipe out those freaks from the Vortex Gang!"

"It’s called ’scattered to the winds’..."

After finishing up their current task, the three of them got into the car, arm in arm, ready to rest up for the final preparations and then...

To go and wipe out those freaks from the Vortex Gang.